Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Brussels was acting like "an empire" and forcing the country to become a colony, while addressing supporters at a rally on Tuesday to commemorate Hungary's anti-Communist uprising in 1956.
Since sweeping to power in 2010, Orban, once a campaigner against Hungary's Soviet Communist overlords, has used his parliamentary majority to pressure courts, media and non-government groups in ways his opponents say breach EU rules.
He was also at the forefront of opposition by central and eastern European members of the bloc to calls from western counterparts for all member states to accept a quota of migrants who have streamed into the EU since 2015.
Last month, the European Parliament voted with more than a two-thirds majority to punish Hungary for flouting EU rules on democracy, corruption and civil rights, including media freedom.
The vote, however, has little chance of ending up with the ultimate penalty of Hungary being suspended from voting in the EU, with any such move likely to be vetoed by Hungary's ally Poland.
Orban's government has passed a series of laws clamping down on non-governmental organisations that it sees as supporting migration with the help of Hungarian-born U.S. financier George Soros, accusing him of trying to flood Europe with migrants, which Soros denies.
Opposition parties held a rally on the other side of the Danube with speakers accusing Orban and his government of stealing EU funds.
They called on supporters to sign a petition for Hungary to join the European Public Prosecutor's Office, set up in 2017 by 20 EU members to combat misuse of funding given out by the bloc.
Six months on from an election which saw Orban's Fidesz party win two-thirds of the seats in Hungary's parliament on a strong anti-immigrant message, the party remains popular, according to opinion polls.
According to think tank Zavecz, Fidesz has bolstered its support since the election with more than triple the support of its nearest rival Jobbik.
Europe has seen a surge in support for far-right, anti-immigrant parties in recent national and regional elections, following a crisis that saw millions of people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa end up in Europe.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters
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